9.3 How do they say...car porn? God's in the details? I say Pagani Zonda R

Please welcome my new wallpaper.
This was going to be a purely illustrative, jaw-dropping, drool instigating post, and it still is.

These shots are about the exhausts manifolds and the front bonnet of the Pagani Zonda R. Technically, the ceramic superficial layer on the exhaust reduces the temperature in the engine bay of about 15 °C. Impressive I'd say.
I'd have like to now how light the bonnet was, but I was barely allow to get close enough to it for some shots, let alone touch it and try to lift it.
There is more than that in these shots though...

As Pagani itself underlined with the official press shots of this car, one of the main and strongest point of the Zonda and its bloodline is the attention to details, and their perfection.

There have been and will be a lot of car as fast or faster then all the Zondas made up to date. Some of the will have more power, or more speed, they will be lighter, more comfortable, more luxurious, or even more exclusive.
Even if you don't consider the Zonda to be best out of there in the world of uber-exclusive supercars, you have to admit it is among the best for sure.
Probably the key to its success was the ability to grant astonishing performance, with high quality craftsmanship and elegance, without forgetting a bit of futuristic style.
It's a great mixture of all of this and much more. Surely the Koenigsegg CCX is faster ona straight line, and has those hypnotizing doors, but once you're in, the interior is pretty...cheap. It isn't badly assembled, or made out of second hand fabrics, but it isn't exclusive, the design isn't enough peculiar and sophisticated, and it isn't straight simple and essential either. That something I never like in the CC family, which is a bit of a shame as the car is damn expensive and I'm sure really involving to drive, but as I'm going to seat in the car and not in front of it while driving, I'd like to have something to drool all over in on the inside of it.

Then we could consider the Gumpert Apollo. We all know how fast that thing is, but the problem si exactly this, it appears more of a thing, a tool, rather than a car, or better, an exotic car. Its form after function approach is excellent, but pretty uninspiring too. It's mean, aggressive, raw and brutal as much as its performance are, but even if it's somehow cheap to buy being a pure race car, it's pretty down in my list.

Then there is the Ascari KZ1. No, it isn't as fast or powerful as those just listed, but it's another handcrafted car in low volumes. Its problem though isn't the high price, or it's anonymous look, with strong hints of Ferrari 360 Modena all around, the use of components from other cars even in the cockpit, or its lack of a strong and defined personality, something different from being just fast. It's all of that, all together. It's the feeling you're buying something that is already out there, just more expensive, with less identity. It is a great car, well assembled and plenty of potential (see its sportier sister the A10), and the Ascari family looks like a nice one to belong to, especially because of those Ascari Race Resort...

These are just a few of all the cars with a certain high image, and why do I prefer the Zonda over them?
It isn't something directly explainable, it's like a childish feeling you grow up with. I knew the Zonda since its beginning, more than 10 years ago, and I always liked it. Every now and then I found some new details to think about, I didn't like some of them at first, but in the end what that I love about this car is its cohesive essence, made out of thousands of perfect smaller parts, like a galaxy with its stars and planets around them.
Everything from the nose on the bonnet to the wing at the rear is perfect, a wonderful object you'd show off in your living room even if didn't know a thing about cars or the Zonda itself. All these small bits create something marvelous, dynamic yet elegant, aggressive yet classy, wrapping a top notch engineering masterpiece.
That's why I like it, it's attention to details to the nth degree, without being a purely artistic object, but a terrific supercar.
It's a bit like Spyker, which I love as well, just with more power and performance.
You know, if you have to play, play big...

Finally, a few correction to what is generally and wrongly wrote on the internet and magazines.
The Zonda R has nothing to do with the other cars from Pagani. 90% of the components is brand new, and the main point are the chassis, the drivetrain (engine and gearbox) and suspensions.
A lot fo people, journalists and bloggers believe the Cinque is its road going counterpart, but it isn't so. The Cinque is the last evolution of the Zonda family, while the Zonda R, despite carrying over the same name, is a completely different car. It is also sporting some componets that will be used on the upcoming (spring 2010) Pagani C9, the Zonda's replacement.

The main carbon fiber monocoque adopted on the Cinque has the same design of the first 1999 Zonda C12, albeit modified relatively to the adoption of th carbo-titanium composite material and few other things. From the 1999 C12 to the 2009 Cinque, every time the chassis has been updated, to reduce the weight or enhance its specs, but the main dimensions have always been the same.
Oh really? Yeah, really.
The second Zonda ever made, with the first unit being used for the development and crash tested in 1998, is still used by Pagani and it was used until now to test each new generation. It was photographed in the official photoshoot of th Zonda F, carrying the "Prototipo 2" sticker on the doors, and a silver painted roof, instead of the usual carbon fiber treatment.
This is a shot I took myself back at the end of August 2009, where you can see this car in full Cinque Specs. Of course its chassis is still the old one, but it shows you how it can adopt different mechanics. I know the car is barely recognizable, but trust me, it's still the good old #76002.

There are at least a Zonda S 7.3 being update to F specs, another Zonda C12 updated to S 7.0, and a Zonda S Roadster updated to Zonda F Roadster, and many S 7.0 lately became an S 7.3.
It's a pretty lively family, you know...

BONUS SHOTS, CARBON FIBER GALORE!!!

Hope you won't mind the quality of the last shot, it's an uber zoom, a la C.S.I. I'd say, to show you how much awesomeness is going on there. There is much more than a dark edge sketches in a carbon fiber bodywork.

All Images Copyright: Damiano Garro
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9.2 Up close and personal with yet another Pagani Zonda at the Museum of Ceramics, Faenza

Back to cars again, and what a car.
What you are looking at, surrounded by darkness and highlighted by reflections is the first Pagani Zonda S 7.3 ever made. The third evolution of the Zonda was unveiled in Geneva back in 2002, sporting a new and bespoke 7.3 liters V12 engine provided by Mercedes-Benz and adequately tuned by AMG, a new 6 speed gearbox, which cost about 700.000 € to develop and a few more tricks here and there.
If you ever tried to get the aesthetic differences between the Zonda S 7.0 and the 7.3, I suppose you already find them, but it's not that easy.
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While the 7.0 liters version had a circular air vent right on top of the engine, the 7.3 has just a “C12” badge. Funny trivia, the C12 moniker, originally adopted for the 6.0 liters Zonda C12, comes from the name of Horacio Pagani's wife, Christina, and of course the number of cylinders of the engine.
Moving to the back of the car, if you look to the double rear wing, you'll see that on the S 7.0 this part was made with two pillars integrated in the bonnet in a single piece, plus the two actual wings, which were available both in raw carbon fiber finish or with the same color of the body. On the outer side, there are two polished metallic pillars.
On the S 7.3 model, the wings are now made in a single piece with the inner pillar which isn't integrated in the bonnet anymore. The outer pillars are now moved a bit more towards the inner side.
For as regard the front end, the two variants are identical.

When the Zonda S 7.3 was unveiled, this specific car had the rear wings in exposed carbon fiber, probably to underline the new design, and standard silver wheels.
However, by the time it reached the stage of the 2002 Geneva auto show, the rear wings were painted of the same lovely blue which covers the car, and even the wheels were painted with the same color in some inner parts. I can't say if it was a request made by the owner, but here is another interesting trivia about this Zonda.

The car was also showcased at the 2002 Paris auto show, but for a few days it wasn't exhibited, because film director and producer Luc Besson needed the car for some scenes of the Michel Vaillant movie, where the car is featured as the personal drive of the famous character.
Considering the French nationality (and proud) of the whole production, I wouldn't be surprised knowing it was actually painted blue to better fulfill its role in the movie.
Talking about the original owner, it should be a certain “His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Saiman Abdulaziz Alsaud”. As far as I know, the correct name should be “Mohammad bin Saiman Abdul Aziz Al Saud”, but that's what is written on the plate between the seats, where there is usually some sort of indication on the owner or the car itself.
Now the car should be a piece of the Panini Collection, and should be viewable at the Panini Museum just outside of Modena.

Regardless of all of this, it's just gorgeous.
This specific shade of blue is surely enough interesting to catch your attention while browsing images and web pages, but it's definitely much much better in the flesh. Of all the Zondas I saw to date, something like 10 completed cars I guess, I think this has the best color so far.
The way it reflects the light and underlines the soft curves of the car is just amazing, and let me appreciate a couple more details I didn't notice before.
That's the case with a sort of channel which deploys it self all around the windscreen before being flattened right after the front wheel arches on the upper surface of the doors.
I always knew it was there, it's a pretty obvious component of its look, but I never really appreciated it until now. At the same time, this gave me the occasion to consider how on the inside, the same wrapping, or rather embracing function is performed by the air diffusers, which create two arches, one per each occupant, starting from the center console and the two main diffusers shaped like periscopes.

Then there is the rear bonnet, which in this S trim isn't perturbed by any sort of window showing the engine. Even if I like that solution, especially when it's done with the carbon fiber grilles which resemble a couple of lungs, in this plain solution you can really appreciate the soft surfaces, like a slightly rough sea in the middle of the ocean, while the sun enlightens the crests and the abysses darkens the bottom of each wave.

Oh, so poetic..

The only thing that I don't really like in this car is the color of the interior, it's a bit too understated and simple, while the whole cockpit's design is pretty futuristic and detailed. I'm glad this car wasn't updated as many others featuring the usual red leather pack though.
That's the problem with the Zonda, there are too many of them with an exposed carbon fiber body and a red leather interior. That's a big problem, isn't it?

Oh, for those keeping record on this kind of stuff, this blue Zonda S 7.3 is the chassis #76020.
A few bonus shots:

Coming next: Zonda R bits and bites.

All Images Copyright: Damiano Garro
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